CFTC Looks into Regulating Bitcoin

24/7 Wall St.
Updated
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The experiment behind the craze of the virtual currency Bitcoin may soon be coming to an end. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is calling for regulators to look into whether Bitcoin should be regulated. It is too soon to call this the death of Bitcoin, but let's just say that the regulatory battleship has just fired a major warning across Bitcoin's bow.

Bart Chilton just gave a Bloomberg TV appearance calling for the CFTC and other regulators to look into regulating Bitcoin. Again, this is not a formal regulation as of yet. It is an inquiry into whether (or how) Bitcoin actually should be regulated.

Chilton told the "Bloomberg Surveillance" audience on Bloomberg TV that Bitcoin needs to be given a hard look by the United States and other nations and their regulatory agencies. He called Bitcoin a shadow currency. He has said that he is not 100% certain that Bitcoin needs to be regulated. FoxBusiness also ran a detailed effort about what the CFTC is investigating as well.

We recently said that Bitcoin's trading crash at Mt. Gox is turning Bitcoin into BS-Coin. If Bitcoin falls under harsh regulation, it will not just BS-Coin. It would like be No-Coin.

As you might imagine, this is not exactly going to drive the value of Bitcoin higher, as you can see from the MtGox.com price graph below. The prices are as follows:

  • Last price:$104.60000

  • High:$122.00000

  • Low:$97.52000

  • Volume:150,646 BTC

  • Weighted Avg:$108.42015

Bitcoin Graph May 7
Bitcoin Graph May 7


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